In case you missed the post about the release of the BlackBerry Java Plug-in for Eclipse v1.3, this version of the plug-in provides support for the latest Eclipse version 3.6 (Helios). It’s designed to help with debugging performance and marks the start of a new way to distribute plug-ins by simplifying access and installation of SDKs. As stated in the post above, we will no longer provide an update site for the Java Plug-in for Eclipse 1.3 and BlackBerry® WebWorks™ on Eclipse, but we will keep update sites available for component pack downloads.

New features of the BlackBerry Java Plug-in for Eclipse v1.3 include:

1. Eclipse 3.6 (Helios) support with a new BlackBerry Java Development Eclipse perspective
2. New Application Wizards to get new BlackBerry® smartphone applications up and running quicker
3. A dynamic “Getting Started Welcome Page” to provide relevant and updated information of key development resources
4. Update Notification to let you know when new versions are available for download
5. Improved debugger performance for faster breakpoints and evaluation
6. MacOS X Java Plug-in for Eclipse feature parity

We encourage you to replace the current BlackBerry Java Plug-in for Eclipse v1.3.0 with this maintenance release, especially if you are using Windows 7. Download the latest plug-in from the Developer Zone today.

Let us know if you have any questions in the comments!